


The Smudge: Alpha Session

by puppypetter666



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:54:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21624076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppypetter666/pseuds/puppypetter666
Summary: A total of 1800 trolls wake up in a grassy field under a strange, unknown context and are given a single assignment: form a party. The trolls who do not will be punished. Focusing on a single group, events will ensue.
Kudos: 3





	1. =======> WAKE UP

**Author's Note:**

> This is more or less a derivative of a derivative. The basic plot structure started from an old Homestuck fanwork that never went anywhere because I wasn't sure how to frame it. Now I do. I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it!! More chapters to come!!

A troll returns to consciousness. She takes in a strange sort of grassiness - too perfect and too pristine to be that of her home. She must be dreaming. She keeps her eyes closed. Just below the threshold of conscious audibility, something shuffles. She keeps her eyes closed. The shuffling grows a bit louder - accompanied by groaning. She's having a nightmare. That must be it. She's awake enough to know that. She tells herself to keep her eyes shut and fall asleep again - whatever is happening will soon stop as she fades back into gentle nothingness.

"What the fuck?"

She stirs. She knows she didn't say this - the voice was a raspy tenor full of anxious tension, evident from the slight wobble and the break at the end.

"Oh shit."

The troll didn't quite recall hearing and comprehending full sentences in her dreams. She dreamt in actions, emotions, senses, colors.

"Wake up."

Her internal refusal held steadfast as she pretended as if she couldn't hear the voice. She felt warmth on her shoulder. Pressure. Tactility. Reality.

"H-hey. Hey, c'mon, wake the fuck up. Please."

She was shaken lightly before the warmth left her. She noted the jade glow behind her eyelids, brighter than it should be.

"You, wake up, c'mon, what the fuck is going on?"

The voice grew slightly more distant - perhaps a head turned away. She allowed her eyes to open and was immediately met with the unpleasant sensation of her pupils constricting violently. The thin skin covering her eyes as she slept gave no prior indication of the intense light of day greeting her like a salesperson, overbearing and loud. The strangest sensation of all was the comfort she felt in what she could only assume was the warmth of the sun, _a_ sun, a far cry from the stinging burns she was familiar with.

"What?"

A different voice, sleepy, a breathy baritone.

"Thank fuck you're alive, do you know what the fuck is going on? Who are you? Where are we?"

She slowly sat up. A pair of eyes turned to face her. Her name was Ammoir Atebes, and she ran her fingers through her hair to get it away from her eyes. She beheld a mass of trolls coming to consciousness, some standing already, some still refusing to move from their prone positions. One thing, she could note, was common amongst them: confusion.

"Shit, you're up, too? What the fuck? What the fuck is going on?"

She turned slowly to face the panicked redblood, brows furrowed. Short and stocky, wearing rather plain clothing.

"Who... Are you?" She asked. She was met with a few seconds of frustrated babbling.

"Vizzek, my name's Vizzek. What the fuck does it matter? Look around! What the fuck is this!? Where are we!?"

She looked around at his suggestion. She sat in a field of perfect green grass underneath a blue sky. Everything was bright. Occasional hills broke the monotony of the landscape, though she noted a complete lack of trees, shrubs... Life beyond the grass and the trolls.

"Oh dear," the breathy baritone began, drawing her attention. Other conversations began cropping up around her, but her gaze was taken by the new voice. He was a cerulean blood, with particularly long, beautiful hair. He was still sitting, but even while sitting she could tell he was quite strong, physically, and tall. Any sense of intimidation, though, was lost as the poor man had a particularly bad case of babyface, contrasted by the redblood's... Not-so-pretty features - he wasn't rugged, just... Unattractive.

"Oh dear? That's it?" the redblood, Vizzek, began, "Oh dear!? Open your fucking eyes! What the fuck is this!?"

The ceruleanblood blinked twice.

"...I daresay, quite the predicament, to be sure!"

"Oh my fuck, we're all gonna die. We're all gonna - we're dead. We're already dead. Fucking fuck. Shit."

He clutched his head. Ammoir surveyed her surroundings, paying care to avoid interaction with the panicked redblood. It seemed as if everyone was awake, though she couldn't properly tell as the amount of trolls surrounding her seemed almost infinite. She rose to her feet, squinting a bit and raising a hand to her forehead.

"What do you see?" the baritone asked.

"...Nothing, really. Though, from the looks of things," Ammoir turned to face the ceruleanblood, now seated crosslegged, "you'd probably be able to see a lot more than me." He flushed a bit, scrambling to his feet to survey the landscape as well.

"...Oh bother."

"Anything?" Ammoir asked.

"There's fucking nothing, it's just a shitton of trolls and we're in hell because we're fucking dead," Vizzek said.

"Hmm... No, nothing, I suppose - verily, a great many trolls. A gentle daylight. Little else of note."

Ammoir sighed.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Vizzek said, ripping out handfuls of grass, "How did I get here? How did any of us get here? I wasn't even - I didn't even go to sleep! I didn't even fucking - and now I'm waking up? Here? Fuck - what? Did - did we get killed by the drones?" He turned, shifting his worried eyes between the two trolls soeaking with him. Ammoir closed her eyes in an attempt to remember, but found nothing. Echoing her seniments, the cerulean spoke up.

"Hmm... I don't believe so, though my memory comes foggily, a haze thus overtaking me so..."

Ammoir frowned.

"Well, what's your name?" she asked.

"Vizzek, I fucking told you," the redblood said.

"No, not you. We know your name."

The ceruleanblood chuckled good-naturedly. "I am Harkae Gemiga, my good lady, of the Order of... Valiance. Prithee, may I be so bold as to inquire about your identity?"

"Ammoir."

"My sincerest good acquaintances to the both of you, though we know not -"

Harkae was interrupted by two booming voices speaking in unison.

"Welcome to this particular iteration of the game of Sgrub." 

Vizzek screamed. 

"What the fuck!?" He began searching for the source of the voices, squinting up at the clouds.

"We know you're confused. Maybe you're scared. We ask that you put this aside as you enjoy the alpha. Now that you are all awake, we can explain the game. The first step is to congregate in a party of fourteen. The only stipulation we must insist upon is a blood color limit: up to three trolls of a single blood color may be present in any given group of fourteen; none more. This is to ensure a somewhat balanced and representative spread. That is your first task. There are 1800 of you - this means 8 of you will not be able to find a group and will subsequently be punished. Any others unable to find a group, no matter how many remain, will face the same punishment. You will find a transcription of your duties on your phones. We have taken the liberty of adding the Sgrub Alpha app, in which you will find what you need to know for this game going forward. We will make another announcement for your next task when time has expired for this one. You have one hour to form your parties of fourteen. Good luck."

"Punished?" Vizzek asked, voice trembling. "Fuck. Fuck! H- hey! Hey! You two! I - I found your names through the search thing, join my party! Please! I know I'm just a redblood, but - please!"

His desperation was practically tangible. Harkae fumbled with his phone while Ammoir had a bit of an easier time accessing the app. Just as Vizzek had said, there was a party invitation under a messaging tab. Sighing, she accepted it. She soon saw Harkae's name appear under the list as she noted the new tab that appeared. Party. Vizzek Mijino, Ammoir Atebes, Harkae Gemiga. Red, Jade, Cerulean. Eleven spots remaining.

"Okay, okay. Great. Fuck. Uh... You two just-... Just try finding other people, okay? I think - I think you can send invites too. I don't see any, like, party leader thing or whatever. Just, uh, fuck, hit invite, hit search by name, and just type it in, okay? Go!"

He scurried off, trying to get the attention of any troll that would listen. It seemed to be slightly difficult for him - Ammoir noted his... Short height. He couldn't even be breaking five feet, and trying to arouse attention by force... Likely wouldn't end well for the lowblood.

She sighed, turning toward Harkae.

"Should we... Split up? Or...?"

Harkae took a moment to ponder, stroking his bare chin for a moment.

"Perhaps 'twould be most prudent. Though 90-score trolls there may be, if we act not with haste, we mayhap find ourselves in the most unfortunate of - m-miss Ammoir-!"

She turned and left him hanging mid-sentence.


	2. =======> BE HARKAE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We stick with Harkae, now, as he begins the search for more members to add to his party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me an embarrassingly long time to find the "add chapter" button. Even longer to figure out work skins.

The sting of being completely and totally ignored passed by rather quickly, all things considered. Harkae knew he had a mission to undertake! He had people who were relying on him! He had a feeling of butterflies in his stomach so intense it threatened to turn him inside out. He gently rubbed at his temples for a moment before stretching his back and shoulders. He took a deep breath in. He checked his phone.

His party, right now, contained three trolls. Out of the ten required blood colors, three were already filled. Logic dictated, then, that he should look for trolls of other blood colors than the ones already represented in his party! Embracing his brainy moment, he scrunched his eyebrows together and thought of which colors were missing. They already had a jadeblood, which would have proved to be one of the more difficult trolls to find... Though, he supposed with the presumably even split, there would only be eight trolls anyway. But, at the same time... Parties were free to form. They could potentially form with four jadebloods, potentially depriving other groups of jadebloods. His eyes grew wide as he fumbled toward the message section of the app.

\--------------

ardentChevalier: /A most hasty greeting of little import when compared to that which I have just discovered through close introspection!\

grottoGuerrilla: nXT HASTY.

ardentChevalier: /You all must listen toWhat?\

grottoGuerrilla: nXT A HASTY GREETING AT ALL.

grottoGuerrilla: i'M NXT SURE YXU SEEM TX DX ANYTHING HASTILY?

ardentChevalier: /That… Is fair. Nonetheless, I must share with you all information of great import!\

chronicCircumspection: WHAT

ardentChevalier: /Due to the relative freedom with which we are to assemble our "parties," and given the lack of multiple heiresses (if she should even be present!) resulting in ten such hemocastes from which to assemble a group of fourteen…\

ardentChevalier: /…\

ardentChevalier: /…\

chronicCircumspection: ST0P FUCK1NG TYP1NG ELL1PSES 1TS P1SS1NG ME 0FF

grottoGuerrilla: iF IT'S SX IMPXRTANT WHY NXT JUST SAY IT?

ardentChevalier: /My sincerest apologies, I have run afoul of mine own neurological machinations! I have performed the pierrot act of confusing myself.\

ardentChevalier: /Let me start over!\

grottoGuerrilla: wE'RE DXXMED.

chronicCircumspection: F0R FUCKS SAKE GUY

ardentChevalier: /There are ten blood colors required of us to assemble.\

chronicCircumspection: YEAH

ardentChevalier: /The other four party slots are left to us to fill.\

chronicCircumspection: WE GET THE PREM1SE

ardentChevalier: /Hypothetically, then, one could assemble a collection of parties in which, for instance, there are four bluebloods each… To the point at which there are no bluebloods remaining to fill required slots for other parties!\

chronicCircumspection: WA1T WHAT

ardentChevalier: /The voice… Er… Voices? Seemed not to have a failsafe in place for such an incident… Thus, I can only conclude that should we not act with the utmost haste to first fill the remaining seven open blood color slots we have…\

ardentChevalier: /We could face the same punishment the eight inherently-partiless individuals face.\

grottoGuerrilla: hMM.

chronicCircumspection: FUCK FUCK FUCK GET 0N 1T THEN ST0P FUCK1NG TYP1NG G0

ardentChevalier: /We could form a party of thirteen individuals and by this simple hemocaste rule, be punished for lack of a full party!\

grottoGuerrilla: wELL, sTEP UP THE RECRUITMENT EFFXRT, tHEN.

ardentChevalier: /I shall try!\

grottoGuerrilla: gXXD. jUST STAY CALM, aLRIGHT? tHAT GXES TRIPLE FXR YXU, vIZZEK, iF YXU'RE STILL EVEN READING.

grottoGuerrilla: ...vIZZEK?

grottoGuerrilla: oK, hE'S GXNE.

grottoGuerrilla: hARKAE.

grottoGuerrilla: ...hE’S GXNE TXX.

grottoGuerrilla: i'M TALKING TX MYSELF.

grottoGuerrilla: hAHA YXU BXTH SUCK.

ardentChevalier: /I was distracted!\

ardentChevalier: /Ammoir?\

ardentChevalier: /O, the cruel tapestries of irony! Woe, woe becomes me and all I know!\

\--------------

Feeling... Perhaps a little bad, and now holding a particularly shiny coin somebody dropped, Harkae went back to the party tab, effectively ending his involvement in the conversation - for real this time. He slapped his cheeks a few times. Now, of all times, was not the time to fall into despair... Now was the time to embrace the opposite of despair! What was the word? He shook his head. He'll figure it out later. He had a job to do!

"You okay?" A troll standing before Harkae asked in a thick northern accent. He blinked and looked down to survey the troll before him. She appeared to be a brownblood, short but hardy.

"M- uhm, art thou referring to mine self?" He looked around. She was very unambiguously talking to him. She merely tilted her head in response.

"Ah, I see... Er, verily, I behold a complete dearth of others to whom you couldst be conver...sating. With."

She continued to stare.

"V-verily! Hearken to me - though fear consumeth the very soul, shouldst thou require, I offer a spot of respite! I am presently... A member of a party!" He pointed to his phone. She didn't react.

"Precisely, a member of a party of three. Myself, gallant and just, wielding my sacred blade to destroy all forces in opposition of justice and truth! My trusted shield, that which withstands the sharpest blows of evil! I am prepared thusly to offer thee the opportunity to join me... However, not only me!"

He got down on one knee.

"There exists the mysterious jadeblood Ammoir Atebes, soft of voice and unclear of intent. Er, well, I sure am unclear of her intent. Nonetheless, I clearly predicteth a great power within her; that which so eludes many of us all!... A great calm, an internal serenity so unshakable so as to withstand psychic forces greater than that which, at present, assaulteth us from every angle!"

She continued not to react.

"And..." He checked his phone. "Vizzek!" He paused.

"...Perhaps he has the makings of a great bard! He projects quite well; his voice travels far… Er. Nonetheless, my lady of orange, wouldst thou do me the fair honor of joining my party and bringing us all a single step closer toward the grand achievement of bringing fourteen strangers together, united under one banner?"

She blinked.

"You... Okay, yes? Move, ah, doing... Moves. A lot. Hit face before."

Harkae paused.

"Er... Yes! I am quite alright!"

She gave a bright smile.

"Good! Name Yimbra. Speak old-tongue?"

"Well met fair maiden! I... Am not quite sure what you mean by "old-tongue," though I do believe myself to be... Perhaps a touch old fashioned."

"No?"

"Ah... No, my apologies."

She sighed.

"Wait, you, yes?"

Harkae quirked an eyebrow as his glowing grin grew uneven.

"W...ait? Me? What did I do?"

"No talk good word. I talk old-tongue. I do a thing, please wait!"

He rose to his feet slowly as she breathed in deeply, and out slowly. Again. A third time. She began a low, quiet groan as her head drooped. Harkae looked around, her voice beginning to take on a bit of a fry as she chanted in a language unfamiliar to Harkae.. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to the two trolls. He looked back at her, her voice growing louder. Should... He call Ammoir for help? Before his question was answered, the small troll before him threw her head back, her voice reaching a raspy, frying shriek. Others began to look at the two of them quite nervously, but Harkae found himself unable to bring himself to move. He looked into the crowd behind him, hoping someone would offer any help. What he received in return was a trembling finger pointing just over his shoulder before the gesturing troll fled. Eyes going wide, Harkae slowly turned to face Yimbra once more. She stared at him from behind rolled-back eyes, brown veins popping against the yellow of her scleras. He swallowed audibly.

"Mortal!" she screamed, an impossible bass fraught with cracks and gravel. Harkae flinched.

"Explain to me the circumstances surrounding my host and mine imprisonment here!"

Harkae began, voice small and quivering.

"W-well, you see, um... I am not sure! It, ah, I believe-... Um, we were instructed, as it were, to form parties of fourteen. Any information besides that, um, I fear is... Is lost to mine… T-tender, tender sensibilities. B-but I do know that, um... Those who fail to procure a party, are to be... Punished. Somehow. By whatever powers may be."

She paused for a moment.

"You will allow this one to join your party!" she screamed.

"Y-yes! Um, posthaste! I w- I was asking her to join before!" He tried to press on the invitation button, but ended up dropping his phone onto the grass.

He stared at it.

She continued to float.

His gaze slowly rose to met the upturned eyes of the girl before him. She stared at the bumbling cerulean, veins now bulging from her neck and forehead, breathing growing ragged.

"I. I'm so sorry."

She remained silent.

"I'm - Verily and with great haste I shall... I shall retrieve mine cellular device. That which remains grounded at this moment because of my careless, heretical fingers.

She breathed at him, punctuated with a snort.

"Y- um, yes. I shall - just..."

He quickly bent down to pick up his phone, fumbling a bit longer than he would've liked (the amount he would've liked being zero.) Quickly navigating back to the app's party tab, he pressed the invite button once more.

"Wh-what's your-...? Ah?"

The brownblood before him once more made contact with the ground, swaying gently before her eyes rolled back to their appropriate positions.

"Oof..." she grumbled, gently patting her head. "Now I do patting of head."

She giggled, smiling gently at the horrified cerulean.

"What voice said?"

He remained in gaping-mouthed silence for a number of seconds before responding.

"That... That... You should... Join my party?"

"Party?"

"Y-you just... One moment. Yimbra, was it?"

She nodded. quickly typing in her name, he was relieved to be left with a single result: Yimbra Saetur, brown blood.

"Yimbra Saetur?" She quirked a brow.

"How you know Saetur? I say Yimbra, yes? No Saetur!"

"I-it... It popped up-..." He showed her his phone. She tilted her head.

"Hmm... On phone?" She removed hers from her pocket and, after a moment of unlocking her phone, gave a slight gasp of surprise.

"I no get this! It is in my phone!" She showed him the app, the same as on his phone. She was partiless at the moment. He nodded.

"Unfortunately, the circumstances are the same with everyone - we all woke up here with that mysterious application residing on our phones. Here, um..." He sent the invite and cautiously took her side. His name popped up near-instantly.

"Oh! This?" she gestured toward the notification.

"Y-yes, um, please press that."

"Press? What is word "press?""

"W-with your finger."

"Finger, yes, yes. Many sorry. No talk good, this language. Speak old-tongue."

Harkae chuckled nervously, growing concerned about this "old-tongue".

"Right...!"

She pressed the notification, and the option to accept or deny the party request popped up.

"Yes no? Oh, I yes?"

Without waiting for a response, she hit "yes" and was subsequently added to the party. It appeared as if Harkae was the first to find a new member, as the party remained a party of four. She paused, then looked up to Harkae sporting a wide grin.

"You friends?"

He paused before nodding sheepishly.

"Of a sort."

She giggled.

"Good! Maybe Yimbra-friend soon! I walk you, me, same?"

"...Together?"

"Yes, yes!"

He felt perspiration accumulating on his forehead.

"Y-... Sure... Yes... For now... We do need to find more party members, as it were."

"More friend?"

He nodded slowly. She sighed and took Harkae's hand.

"Do not be a scare. Voice no do harm. Cannot. Just speak this-tongue. I speak old-tongue. I use voice like... Ah... Word... ...Tool?" Harkae nodded.

"Right, er, you use the voice as a tool to communicate with others in this language as you only speak... The old tongue?..." She nodded vigorously.

"But I try learn! I many g- better! Before, need... trade-goods. Live inside small wood... Um... Square. Square-of-squares. You know?"

"A log cabin?"

"Yes, yes - on high mountain topped. Well, no food... No more cans, yes? And animal only so good."

Harkae nodded slowly.

"You needed to learn this language to trade for food because you ran out at home." She nodded.

"Yes! So, sorry. Voice no scary. I control. Easy!"

Harkae nodded as she gave the top of his hand a pat.

"What do now?"

"Erm, well, Yimbra... We look for perhaps another individual who appears in need of a party, mayhap a yellowblood next? Or, well, anyone who has a blood color different from ours."

"Get yellow blood. Yes, okay." She gave him a thumbs up. He wasn't quite sure about her wording on that one, but offered a thumbs up in return.

"Right..."

His phone vibrated, as did Yimbra's. Furrowing his brow, a brief moment of worry washed over his features, giving way to shock once he checked the party tab once more.


End file.
